Teacher retirement fund to get help

Teachers, the state of Texas and school districts would all pay more to help support the Teacher Retirement System of Texas under a bill passed by the Texas Senate Wednesday.

Under Senate Bill 1458, the $117 billion TRS fund would get a boost from members, whose contributions would increase from 6.4 percent of their salaries to 7.7 percent over four years. Meanwhile, the state’s contribution would increase from 6.4 percent to 6.8 percent, and school districts that don’t pay into Social Security would contribute 1.5 percent.

“This has been a good process,” said Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, who authored SB 1458. “These are long-term revisions to the TRS system, and what we’ll have is a fund that is more robust that will be fundamentally sound.”

Additionally, about 102,000 teachers who retired before 1999 would receive a three percent cost of living adjustment under the new bill. SB 1458 was unanimously approved and now goes to the Texas House.

Note: a previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the cost of living increase would apply to teachers who retired after 1999.